With a new session that began Tuesday, Jan. 13, the opportunities for positive reforms to our system of governance, tax structure and personal freedoms should be

plentiful.

And while there are some strong reforms on the table this year, it’s the weak refoms – and even some measures that would take us backward – that will likely take center stage if citizens don’t keep a watchful eye on their lawmakers.

If you’d like to send your child to a different school next year, now’s the time to start the process of researching your options.

As South Carolina prepares to commemorate National School Choice Week this month at 120 events across the state, and nearly 11,000 events nationwide, many parents will begin evaluating the educational opportunities that are available for their children.

People often question why I never mention my brothers and sisters by name in my column. My sister Martha, an English major with a master’s, proofs what I write and has the authority to remove names to protect the guilty.

It could be because I served three years in the pen and then a year’s probation on a work farm learning various trades. At age 4, I was paroled to be a free-range farm child. I would have preferred to serve more time in the pen, but my younger sister was born Feb. 25, just eight days before my third birthday.

For many years, that gas tax money built roads. Then we didn’t need so many roads, but the money kept coming in. All that lovely money attracted political causes like garbage attracts flies at the local, state and federal levels. Now we need to use that money to repair roads, which we should have been doing for years.

First, we should take it back from places it doesn’t belong; only then do we add more tax money to the pile.

It is with great sorrow that I announce the passing of the greatest political experiment our planet has ever experienced.

America is fading into an historical footnote.

The past six years have shown a division within our government that only seems to widen on a daily basis. The constant infighting within our political arena has become tiresome and now reached critical mass.

When a civilian loses his life during a violent confrontation with police, there is frequently a complaint that the officers overreacted or used excessive force.

The officers who arrested Curtis Ja’ven Sowell in the story, “Man pulls handgun during arrest,” in the Jan. 9 edition of The Lancaster News, are to be congratulated for their quick thinking and self-restraint.

Mr. Sowell should count himself lucky and the rest of us can sleep a little easier knowing that such professionals are protecting our streets.